Abstract

The article is devoted to the scientific field of social ecology as a branch of sociological knowledge. The essence of interconnection and mutual influence of social and natural areas in modern society as well as the characteristics of socio­ecological sphere in Ukraine and abroad and its key problems are examined. The article focuses on the issue of socio­ecological risks in sociology. It presents the analysis of the existing definitions of «risk» in both foreign and domestic science and its classification, reveals the interrelation of the concepts of «risk», «social risk» and «socio­ecological risk». Furthermore, the article provides the classification of socio­ecological risks and outlines the current problems of conceptualizing the conceptual field of risk science, sociology of risk and social ecology. A special emphasis is made on substantiating the need for regular and thorough sociological researches of the current and forecasted socio­ecological state and of the various aspects of the impact of socio­ecological risks on society’s activity due to distinct sociological nature of the environmental problems studying in modern society which requires implementing sociological methods in environmental researches. An emphasis is also placed on the need for sociologists to take part in environmental researches.

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